Social analysis of security

The unequal division of power, income, social and cultural capital is reflected in the field of security. This results in an unequal distribution of security in our society. The research unit Social Analysis of Security (SVA) brings in this book different contributions together on the theme of inequality and exclusion mechanisms in the field of security and describes, explains and observes its social effects, starting from an explicit empirical research attitude. From a methodological point of view, this book tries to find a balance between quantitative and qualitative research methods. It is about the PhD production of the research unit Social Analysis of Security (SVA) research group, going beyond formal matters.

This volume contains three parts. A first part is dealing with Financial, Economic and Ecological Crime, a domain where characteristics of inequality are dominant. For a long time an under-researched topic, but the last decade an increasing interest can be observed. This part deals with conflict resolution in the pharmaceutical sector, the policing of money and compliance strategies in the banking sector, transnational environmental crime in the trafficking of e-waste and illegal timber, the perceptions of corruption by public opinion and the vulnerability of informal economy workers in sectors as fruit picking, street vending and prostitution.

The second part deals with Crime, security and trust. This research investigates the causes of criminal behaviour and attitudes from a contextual perspective, with special attention for unequal socio-ecological or environmental influences. How do neighbourhood disadvantages impact on individual involvement in offending or on the environmental spread of collective efficacy and fear of crime? How do vulnerable adolescent victims cope with their victimisation experience of violence or property crime? How do citizens cope with and construct safety and what are sources of their perception? How to explain and prevent distrust of citizens in the criminal justice system?

The third part deals with Public & Private Policing in a broad sense, looking at different social reactions to security phenomena. This research analyses policies concerning insecurity, such as federal and local security policy; structural and cultural changes within the police force; reactions to new security initiatives; the blurring of boundaries between police and other instances and alternative conflict settlements. Here police practices are observed on the working floor looking at police leadership, investigative interview competences, (in-)formalisation of forms of community policing, the perception of citizens on police tasks, the social reaction towards incivilities, the discretion of operational police officers and the growth of the private security industry.

This book brings recent doctoral empirical research findings together, looking at the field of insecurity from an angle of social inequalities and the consequences of this.